12 Muslim students released

BOGOR: The police have released 12 students of the Darul Huda Islamic boarding school who were arrested on Saturday night following an attack on a number of hotels and suspected brothels in Cipayung, in the Puncak resort.

The students were released following a meeting between Bogor Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Mochamad Taufik and religious figures in the area.

On Saturday night, the police arrested 42 people, including the 12 students, in connection with the riots. They were among 300 people who, armed with sticks and Molotov cocktails, set fire to the buildings. They also looted the victims' belongings.

Syaiful Sardi Jayadi, who represented the local Muslim figures, argued that the people had taken the law into their own hands because the police were too slow in responding to their complaints.

People had called the authorities several times to take action against the alleged brothels, but there was no response.

"So, don't blame (the people) if they took direct action," he said.

He said he regretted the anarchy, arguing that there must have been a "third party" that took advantage of the incident.

Taufik said that the legal processing of the suspects would continue. -- JP